687 / 

D2 D2 \^ 



opy 1 \ / GG3S~'7^\\r 



..The [.and of Milk and j4oney." ^-^Wt 



□ 



KANSAS 



AND ITS 



County of Davis. 



Information for People Seeking 
Homes in the West. 



Publislied by the Davis County, Kansas, Bureau 
of Immigration. 



^. JUNCTIOX CITY, KANSAS: ^ 



a 



->Jhe [^and of Milk and Honey. 



KANSAS 



AND ITS 



County of Davis. 



Information for People Seeking 
Homes in the West. 



Publisl^ed by the Davis County, Kansas, Bureau 
of Iiximigration. 



JUNCTION CITY, KANSAvS: 

PRINTED AT TilE OFFICE OF THE JUNCTION CITY ¥NIOX. 

187S. 






Officers" § Davis Conoty Bnrean of Immigration. 



B. ROCKWELL, President Junction City 

JOHN GROSS, Vice President, Junction City 



JOHN DAVIS, 
J. S. CORYELL, 
E. BIGGS, 
E. R. F. MORGAN 
H. A. MILLER, 



" Smoky HbU Township 

'• Lyoji To-jonship 

" Jackson TovjnsJiip. 

" Liberty Tov:nship 

" Milford Township 

P. V. TRO VINGER, Recording Secretary, Junction City 

J. J. BLATTNER, Treasurer, 

A. C. PIERCE, Corresponding Secretary, '' " 

Executive Committee, 

JAMES KETNER, W. S. BLAKELY, 

MARTIN MULLINS, S. S. PROUTY, 

JOHN K. WRIGHT, B. ROCKWELL, A. C. PIERCE, 



MAP OF KANSAS. 



On the preceding page will be found a map of Kansas, which gives 
a correct idea of the location and boundaries of its counties and a fair 
representation of the streams. The railroads as indicated on the map, are 
all completed, and at least two hundred more miles have been construct- 
ed since the map was made. The western terminus of the Central 
Branch road is now at Concordia, instead of Waterville, as shown by the 
map, and the Junction City & Ft. Kearney road now intersects the 
Central Branch road at Chfton, in the southwest corner of Washington 
county. .- (Clifton is a new town and does not appear on the map. The 
terminus of this road, as there indicated, is at Clay Center, but it has 
lately been extended to Clifton). Junction City, the county seat of 
Davis county, is the initial point of the Missouri, Kansas & Texas 
railway, which is in operation to Galveston, on the Gulf of Mexico, and 
is also in operation to the Mississippi river at Hannibal, Mo. Junction 
City as also on the line of the Kansas Pacific railway, being a central 
point on the great international railway between the Atlantic and 
Pacific coasts. It is the only city in Kansas, on the Kansas Pacific 
railway, that enjoys the benefits of railway competition with the East. 
Hence Junction City is the best grain market in Central Kansas. The 
Junction City & Ft. Kearney railway, now completed to CHfton, a 
distance of fifty miles, commences at Junction City. It will eventually 
be extended to Fort Kearney, Nebraska, a point on the Union Pacific 
railway. What is regarded as the "plains" county, formerly known as 
the " Great American Desert," hes west of Saline county. Davis county 
is the heart of the grain growing resrion.. 



KANSAS. 



The area of Kansas is 81,31s square miles. Only five states have a 
larger area than Kansas. Kansas has more square miles than Ohio, 
Indiana, Delaware and Connecticut combined. England and Scotland 
together contain 89,60x3 square miles, or 8,282 more than Kansas. Its 
population now is estimated to be 800,000, but the state is capable of 
containing a population of 10,000,000. Kansas is an empire ; a giant 
still in its cradle. It was organized in a territory in 1854 and admitted 
into the Union as a state in 1861. Previous to 1854. it was the home of 
the Indian and the buffalo ; to-day it is one of the most promising stars 
of the federal constellation. Let us see Kansas as it is to-day : 

Kansas will stand heavier rains and more prolonged drouth than any 
countr}- between the great lakes and the mountains. A great change 
has come over this country in the matter of rainfall, in the last twenty 
years. No state in the Union has now any more abundant or regular 
rainfall than Kansas. It was unquestionably subject to prolonged and 
excessive drouths until a comparatively recent time. But the climatic 
change which the whole country has undergone, with the breaking up 
of the prairie, the planting of crops, the growth of artificial forests, 
orchards and hedges, the building of railways, telegraph lines and towns 
and the rapid spread of the native forests since the annual prairie fires 
were checked, have produced the necessary atmospheric disturbance 
to generate moisture, till the country has ample rainfall for all the 
domestic uses. The rainfall has drifted westward with the march of 
settlement and husbandry until the copious rains of the latter years are 
as proverbial as the drouths of the old time. The climate is charniing. 
The brief winter brings little snow^ and the live stock run in the wooded 
bottoms through the coldest weather. 

Spring and Autumn are something to be remembered here. The one 
comes in with the song of the birds and the opening of the flowers and 
grasses as regularly as the years come and go. The other is a 
prolonged Indian summer running away to the holiday scarson. These 
seasons are well defined as grand divisions of the year. They are never 
in doubt but come wath the regularity of the tides. In the later years 
they have been so exceptional and uncertain in the old States that they 
are only subject of hope, and never enter into careful calculation. 



6 



The topographical features of Kansas are quite as much an attraction 
as the cHmate. No country west of the great lakes exceeds it for the 
beauty and sweetness of its pastoral landscapes. The great prairies are 
never monotonous here for they are almost infinite in the variety of 
their attractions. The peaceful, winding valley, with its accompanying 
v/ater course and timber Kne is a happy offset to the open grassy plain 
and rolling prairie, and is nearly always set in pleasing contrast with the 
table land, bluff or mound. Now and then owe sees a great range of 
hills running along the horizon for a score of miles. The mound is 
nearly always in sight and varies in form and size from the lone cone- 
shaped elevation of lo to 200 acres up the grand mesa or tal)le-mound 
v*'ith its extended plain, sufficient for three, six or a dozen farms. These 
mounds are found all the way from the Rio (irande northward to 
Nebraska and from the Missouri westard to the Snowy Range. They 
are more positive features of the southwestern landscape and from the 
distance, the atmospheric influence that surrounds them, lends an 
indefinable charm that is never forgotten. Nobody can adequately 
describe the beauty of these Kansas views for they are inimitable and 
matchless. From March to December they are clothed with verdure 
and decked with flowers. There are no waste places in all this realm of ^ 
native grasses and bloom. A hundred varieties of wild grasses find 
sustenance from the water lines to the crown of the highest hills. Wild 
flowers, in endless variety, keep them company. The soil is rich — rich ^ 
as a garden all along this Kansas valley — and produces generously. Vs 
Only half the care necessary to successful husbandry in the old States, v 
is required here. The soil is managed under the happiest conditions. 
It is rarely too wet or too dry. The season of growth is long and 
friendly. The foul, noxious weeds and plants of the East are hardly 
known here. Less labor is required in cultivation and so the cultivator 
who first plows and plants too much, afterwards get careless, is content 
to do half and leave the other half to generous Mother Nature. Food is 
cheaper and more plentiful, and the climate milder than in the old 
country from which the pioneer comes. He can get on with less money, 
for his wants are fewer. He can get on with less labor and hurry because 
the soil is richer and the season of growth longer. He don't need the 
warm expensive shelter of his eastern neighbor because he never feels 
the rigors of eastern or northern winter. There is less stimulus to labor 
on account of local necessity and so farming loses thoroughness and 
discipline. There are thousands of men living in this delightful 
State, with half the effort they used to bestow at the East. They are 
living just as well and generally better. But the man of progressive 
thought and vigorous action ; the earnest, driving, wide-awake mim is 
everywhere growing rich. Why shouldn't he "i The soil is deep, rich 
and enduring. The climate as genial as that of Virginia. He can 
cultivate — and do it thoroughly — twice as much corn or wheat as the 
Michigan or Illinois farmer. If the acreage is greater, so too is the 
average yield. The wheat farmers grow iS to 40 bushels per acre. The 
corn men 35 to 70 bushels per acre. These figures are often exceeded. 
Then comes. the advantage of variety farming. No country in the 
world is more abundant in native and varied agricultural resources. 
Wheat, corn, oats, rye, barley, fiax, castor beans, sweet potatoes, Irish 
potatoes, the whole family of field and garden vegetables, buckwheat. 






millet, Hungarian, sorghum, tobacco, hemp, and broom corn are at 
home in Kansas. Any one of them may be made a success in culture 
and revenue. The man who raises most oi' them and gives thorough 
culture is sure to get independent. Mixed farming beat the specialties 
"two to one." Allied to these sources of local strength are the grasses. 
The wild grasses are everywhere numerous, nutritious and luxuriant. 
There are no resources like them. They ieed the beef that feeds the 
million. The beef-eaters are the world's masters. They stand in the 
front rank and lead the march of human progress. So rich and 
alnmdant are these native grasses, that few farmers give any thought ov 
labor to domestic varieties. Blue grass, clover, timothy, orchard gras?- 
and white clover all flourish here, but for a dozen years to come the wiki 
grass and hay will be the dominant resource of the country. No g^-ass 
in the world will put so much flesh upon cattle, horses and mules> from 
March to August, as the wild pasturage of this country. Ifc cost? 
i::othing to graze it and but a dollar a ton to make it into hay. It is the 
property of the poor and rich alike. Millions of acres of unoccupied 
land furnish the richest grazing fields on the continent. 

Stock raising leads all the other interests of this country. Corn, 
cattle and hogs make any country rich. They lead all other agricultin-al 
interests in money-making. Where these can be most easily and 
cheaply produced is the best country. North Texas, Kansas, Iowa. 
Southern Nebraska, Illinois and Missouri are the corn gracing fields 
that make the beef and pork for the continent. The business pays in. 
Kansas because of the cheapness of the lands, the richness of the grasses-- 
and the mildness ol the climxite. It is the hog and cattle man's paradise. 
Where they raise corn with half an etlbrt, and the great God has made 
an empire of the sweetest grasses, ^/lerc is the herdsman's kino-dom. 
Kansas is the geographical and climatic centre of that kingdom. In 
Illinois and Eastern Iowa the lands range from $-^0 to $70 per acre, and 
it costs money to raise cattle. Artificial shelter must be provided at 
-'arge expense, for winter shelter. Here the lands range from -$1.2:; to ^S 
per acre, and not one herd in fifty ever gets more than the natural 
shelter of the timber in the bottoms. It costs 25 to 40 cents per bushel 
to grow corn in the older states. Here it is grown at a cost of 13 to i5 
cents. No country is bettered watered than this. It is a land of valleys. 
Every valley is coursed by a sj^ring, brook, creek or river. The Eastern 
people misapprehend Kansas. They have not seen this country and have 
heard of it mainly through its early misfortunes. They shoidd see the 
herds, corn cribs, grain fields and orchards. vSee these green waving 
seas of prairie, radiant with the morning dews and breathe the rare 
atmosphere, fragrant with the breath of a million wild flowers. They 
should ride all day in a copious flow of rain water to correct their false 
impressions of ''drouthy Kansas." The dear people who believe that 
Kansas is a land of grasshopper and drouth sliould come and talk with 
the grangers who raised 130,000,000 bushels of corn last year, 90.000,000 
the year before, ?.nd Who have acreage and beautiful promise for 150,- 
000,000 bushels the present year. Kansas will export 20,000,000 bu.shels 
of red winter wheat of this year's crop, besides sowing a larsrer area 
than ever before and feeding her own people. And her fruits, who can 
estimate them ? Whole cargoes of peaches will go to the well bred 
hogs for v/ant of home market or near transportation. The peach 



orchards arc bending under the weight of noble fruits ah-eady blushing 
with ripening. They are the glory and luxury of the State. Everybody 
(nearly) has a vineyard, and it bears generous burdens. The grape is 
perfect here. The west winds drive away the mildew and the softer 
south wind gives color and llavor. Kansas is becoming a land of 
vintages. Apples, cherries, pears and smaller fruits never did better 
in Maryland or Michigan than along these valleys and up on the blue 
mounds. The good Lord — and the birds — have sent the grasshoppers 
to "kingdom come." and the kingdom of the Jawhawkers is in its 
glory. Two years of generous crops, and the fullness of promise for 
the present year has brought Kansas to the front and given genuine 
j[?rospcrity to every department of life. The traders are doing well and 
w«re never on a sounder basis. The farmers are fast becoming 
independent: hundreds of them who came here poor are now opulent. 
They have seen hard times, but that day is over. Thev sit in the 
shadow of the trees which their own hands have planted. They cat 

■ and drink oif their own fig-tree and vine. Every race of pioneers has a 
hard tight to overcome the drawbacks of the frontier and propitate the 
blessed boon of honorable existence. The men of Kansas have fought 

■ their light. They say that "every dog has his day.'" The saying is one 

• of a thousand Yankee vulgarisms, but the idea it embodies is a part of 

• die philosophy of life. Kansas is in the bright dawn of her prosperous 
'"'lay. No country has such jDower of re-bound, as the mechanics say. 
Only ycslcl'day she was asking alms for her suffering children. Last 
(Evening she clothed herself in robes of purple, and green, and gold, and 
stood in the gas-light at the assembly of nations in Philadelphia. Ceres 
and Fomona kept her company. Child of misfortune, whom the world 
had learned to pit}', they come to admire her now, for she is fairer than 
Narcissus. Princes and nobles walk in her court of beauty and wonder 
at her material splendor. Her own children reared the charming 
temple where she holds court and decked its halls with the fairest 
olierings of field and forest, of garden and orchard. No wonder she is 
admired, for she represents alike the beauty of youth and strength. 

A quarter of a century ago she was born of old Mr. Morse's 
mvthical "American Desert." She is young in years but rich ir. 
experience and wisdom. She has wept herself, like Niobe, almost to 
hardness for the loss of her best and bravest children, but she is self- 
helpful and strong and fair to-day. They bandied rude epithets to 
express their contempt of her in the years of doubt and trial, and now. 
in the dawn of her prosperous day, fortune brings favor and friends. 

"Nothing is so successful as success." Kansas stands in the fore- 
ground and is recognized and honored by virtue of what she has 
wrought under discouragement. She is in her glory now ; the shadows 
have passed, the sun shines, and prosperity and fullness flows with 
steady increasing tide. No country is more prosperous to day than 
Kansas. They have more wealth at the East, but it is locked up in 
depressed realty and fitful stocks. Trade, production, values, everything 
has touched the maximum and are in the shrinking process. Here the 
tendenc}- is upward. The country is young and growing. Trade is 
steadily expanding. Production is constantly increasing. Wealth is 
rapidly but healthfully accumulating with the development of local 
resource. Kansas offers more to the emigrant to-day, than any land 



9 



between the two oceans. The climate is charming. The soil is for the 
most part unexcelled. The variety and possibilities of production are 
wonderful. The schools are among the best ; society is good and 
growing better. The country is healthful and more beautiful than car. 
be described. There is wood, coal, stone, timber water and fruits, all of 
good quality and abundant. 




10 



DAVIS COUNTY. 



A HE A AND POl'UJ-ATIOX. 

Davis county comprises 407 square miles of territory with a 
population of about 5,000 people. vSome t,c;oo of the.se people were 

1 



iTii^qmr^ 




M.K.&T.KR.Laiids 
Government Xands 



LJ liaii.PacJ?;IR.l;anaB ^ 



11 

born in the State of Kansas. Others are from States and countries 
as follows: Illinois 418, Missouri 366, Ohio 1269, Indiana 202, Iowa 
196, Pennsylvania 193, Wisconsin 105, Michigan 104, England and 
Wales I So, Sweden, Norway and Denmark 179, Germany 133, 
and from other places, smaller numbers. Besides this enumeration, 
there is a transient population at Fort Riley, a government military 
post located in the county, which has a capacity for six companies of 
cavalry. This post adds considerably to the trade and importance 
of the vicinity. 

ALTITUDE AND TOPOGRAP]lY. 

The average altitude of the county is nearly 1,300 feet above the sea 
level. The face of the country is diversified with valleys and uplands. 
Near the rivers and streams, there are limestone blufls, but aside from 
these, the county consists of alluvial valleys, and broad, rich prairies, 
more or less rolling, and generally well drained. 

soil. AND WATER. 

The soil is usually a clay loam of great depth and richness. In the 
valleys, there is an admixture of sand, forming a deep, black, sandy 
loam of inexhaustible fertility. 

The county is abundantly watered by the Republican, Smoky Hill 
and Kansas rivers, with numerous tributaries that are fed by perennial 
springs. In the language of stock raisers, Davis county may be 
truly descril:)ed as ''well watered." Springs flow freely from the sides 
of blulis in such force that the streams fed by them are never entirely 
closed by the coldest weather, and are never seriously alfected by the 
severest droughts. The water is pure, clear and cold, like that common 
in Kentucky and other limestone countries. Besides the streams and 
springs, it is not difficult to obtain the purest v/ater by digging or 
boring wells. The depth of wells varies greatly, from fifteen to one 
liundred feet. Forty or fifty feet is not an uncommon dejith on the 
level prairies. 

WATER POWER. 

Besides water for men and animals, Davis county has an immense 
amount of available v/ater power, for mill and manufacturing purposes 
— more, perhaps, than any territory of equal size v/est of the Alleghany 
mountains. Our rivers are large enough to supply the greatest 
abundance of water at the lowest stages, while they are not so large 
as to require exorbitant outlays to utilize their forces, l^elow the 
jundtion of the Republican and Smoky Hill, the difKculty of too large 
a volume of water begins, and it increases continually as we pass 
eastward, by the accession of the Blue and other tributaries. At 
Topeka or Lawrence, it will require ten times the capital to construdi 
and maintain a permanent dam than it does at Junclion City or 
above here, on either of the rivers which unite to form the Kansas; 
while, at the same time, our rivers never lack for water. This is an 
important point for capitalists to consider before locating and investing 
for mill purposes. We challenge a comparison of the cost and 
practical workings of the mills and factories on the Smoky Hill, at 
and above Jundion City, with those on the Kansas below here. Nor 
need any one fear that this point is too far west for profitable invest- 
ments. This county is in the very midst of the agricultural region, of 



12 

cheap food and good markets for goods, implements, and other 
manufactured producls. It is closely connected with the great cotton 
fields of Texas, and with the water on the Gulf, as any point east 
of here. And, it may be further stated, that capitalists have already 
recognized and acted upon these fafts, and tiiat there are, at present, 
more mills and machinery now in operation on the Smoky Hill than 
there are on the Kansas. 

PERMANENCE OF STREAMS. 

The most remarkable fact to an eastern observer is the permanence 
of the streams on the great Kansas prairies. Although they do not 
rise in the mountains, and are not direi!:tly fed b\' the great mountain 
snow fields, yet it is evident that they are indirectly so fed. But a small 
portion of the waters of those broad mountain regions, with fifty feet 
depth of melting snows, is able to escape in the form of mountain 
torrents. The pent-up reservoirs pass into the bowels of the earth, and, 
per force of hydrostatic pressui'e, find vent as gushing springs all 
through the outlying foot hills and plains, for hundreds of miles. These 
springs are plentiful in Kansas. They are plentiful in this county. 
They are numerous about the sources of our rivers. They are the 
origin and life of these rivers. They obtain their supplies from the vast 
snow fields of the broadest chain of mountains in the world, and are 
not afiected by the severest droughts. There is, in the driest time, more 
than one hundred horse i:)Ower of surplus water passing over the dam 
of the Star Mills, on the Smoky Hill river at Junction City. 

There is another fa6t, not generally recognized. Our rivers, and 
especially the Smoky Hill, are not only very permanent, but they are 
also very regular, during the extremes of rain and drought. Usually, 
the channels are deep, and, besides the channels proper, there are broad 
bottom lands, both above and below high water mark. These broad 
alluvial valleys are underlaid with a porous subsoil which is readily 
permeated bj- the waters of the rivers. During rainy seasons, 
which should seemingly cause great floods in the rivers, the water 
escapes into the subsoil, to a great distance from the channels, and, 
by thus underjto-wing the vallej's, their overflow is prevented. Then, 
as the dry weather sets in, this subsoil, saturated with water, feeds 
the rivers, and preserves a regular stage of water. These fads have 
been verified by the rise and fall of wells in the vicinity of the 
streams, during rains and droughts, and by the permanent rise of wells 
after the construction of mill-dams. This'permeable subsoil, then, may 
be reckoned as a great hydrostatic balance wheel, regulating very 
materially the eftects that droughts and rains produce on our Kansas 
rivers. They are, therefore, much more equable and permanent than 
the}- could possibly be were they fed direCtly by the mountain torrents, 
or had no means of storing away the floods of hea^-en as they are so 
copiously but irregularly poured out. No State or country can 
surpass Central Kansas in the permanence and regularity of its 
rivers for motive power purposes. 

The New York Tribune says: — "More and steadier water poWer is 
quietly running to waste in Kansas than in any other State in the Union. 
Were this to be said of Idaho or Montana, it would meet with prompt 
and unhesitating credence; but that strong and unfailing streams should 
be found in Kansas, where there are neither mountains nor extensive 



forests, where there arc no heavy snows; and where all the rivers 
have their sources, either at the foot hills of the Rocky Mountains 
in Colorado, or on our undulating prairies, is really remarkable. The 
annual rainfall in Kansas is fully up to the average of the Atlantic 
States. 

"The largest streams, such as the Kansas, Neosho, Republican, 
Solomon, Smoky HiU, Saline, and many other considerable streams, 
l1ow in deep channels through vast deposits of sandy alluvium, often 
several miles wide. So deep are these channels that the streams 
rarely overflow their banks. During the rainy seasons these deposits 
are charged with aU the water they can absorb. They are reservoirs 
of immeasurable capacity which ai'e slowly and steadily discharged by 
percolation, and the streams sink lower and lower in their channels, 
and thus maintaining their flow through the warmer months of the 
year. 

"Kansas can be made one of the foremost manufacturing States. 
Not one west of Massachusetts equals it in permanent and valuable 
water-powers, and in addition to its water-power it has a soil of 
unsurpassing fertility, a salubrious climate, and railroads stretching 
out in all dire<5tions.'" 

BUILDING STONE. 

One of the strong points of Davis county is its inexhaustible quarries 
of beautiful building stone. It is white, or cream-colored magnesian 
limestone, soft and easily worked when first quarried, but gradually 
becoming harder when exposed to the air. It is used for every purpose 
— for paving the streets, building mill-dams, making fences, arid for the 
construction of the finest and most permanent buildings. The stone 
for the State House at Topeka was quarried in Davis county. Large 
quantities of this beautiful, easily-worked material have been shipped 
to Kansas City, St. Louis and Chicago. Some of the more orna- 
mental parts of the fine State House of Illinois, at Springfield, are 
made of Davis county stone. It crops out along the brows of all 
the bluff's, and is handled down hill from the quarries to the wagons 
or railroad trains. In most countries, stone is quarried in the depths 
of the earth, and is raised and removed at great expense and with 
much labor. Here, men quarry stone, literally, up in the air, and its 
removal from the quarries is a mere matter of gravity, which is easily 
and cheaply performed. The supply of this valuable article is absolutely 
inexhaustible,, and is yet to become a perpetual mine of wealth to the 
county. * 

timbp:k. 

Native timber in Kansas should only be used for fuel and other 
incidental purposes. It should never be wasted for fences. Stone, 
herd laws, and live hedges must protec5t our crops and confine our 
animals. Under such an arrangement, our supply of wood is suffi- 
cient for the present, and. when protected from prairie fires, the 
quantity is continually increasii.g. It consists of oak, ash, black 
walnut, Cottonwood, elm, hickory and the usual varieties of hard 
woods found further east. There arc no evergreens growing wild except 
the red cedar. Timber growing will be a profitable part of the business 
of our prairie farmers, for decorative and shelter purposes. These 
varities now growing in our woods will generally succeed best. 



14 



GRASSES. 

The wild glasses of Kansas are similar to those of Illinois and 
other prairie States. The upland grasses have a fine blade and usuall}' 
grow to the height of one or two ieet. The central seed stem is much 
taller. The coarse bottom grass is from four to six or eight feet high. 
There is an intermediate grass called the blue stem, usually found on the 
drier bottoms and less elevated highlands. It is a rank, free-growino- 
grass, with a sweet, soft, pithy stem which is very nutritious. It bears 
a rich crop of seed, and when protected from animals during the 
summer, is of great value as pasturage in the winter. It is the best wild 
grass for hay, though all varieties are used for that purpose. Millet and 
Hungarian are much raised for hay, and are exceedingly valuable. 
The Kentucky blue grass will prove a good pasture grass though rather 
scarce as yet in this county. Alfalfa, or Chilian clover, recently introduc- 
ed from California, promises to be a valuable acquisition both for hay 
and pasture. 

' CULTIVATED CROPS. 

Wheat is the crop mostly relied on for early cash returns. The winter 
varieties are much the more profitable. Corn is usually a good crop, 
but it pays the stock raiser for feeding purposes, better than the grain 
raiser for direct sale. Oats and barley are good crops on strong lands. 
Rye has never been known to fail, and is a good crop for pasturage and 
for grain purposes, when the price rules high enough to pay for ship- 
ment. Millet and Hungarian are among the most profitable crops for 
feeding purposes. Sorghum, buckwheat, flax, castor beans, broom, 
corn, Irish potatoes, and all the field and garden crops grown in this 
latitude, usually succeed in this county. Sweet potatoes do especially 
well in our rich, valiey soils, and some of our experienced growers have 
preserved the potatoes through one summer and two Vk^inters. 

CULTIVATED TREES, 

The varieties ot trees growing wild in the woods of Kansas 
will generally succeed well when subjected to cultivation. 
The variety considered most valuable for quick growth is 
the Cottonwood. But for timber purposes and for purposes of embel- 
lishment, there are many trees much more valuable. Among these may 
be mentioned the black walnut, ash, elm, and box elder. These trees 
are comparatively quick 'of growth, and the timber is valuable. The soft 
maple stands high as an ornamental and timber tree, but must be grown 
on bottom lands to insure success. 

FRUITS AND FRUIT TREES. 

Those fruit trees, vines and plants that succeed farther east in latitudes 
38° or 39° may be relied on as promising success here, under favorable 
circumstances of location and culture. Kansas has astonished the world, 
sometimes, in the production of apples and fruits of that class ; yet it 
may be said that our climate is especially a peach or grape climate. We 
have a bright, warm sun and a dry atmosphere, just the thing for sun- 
loving trees and plants as are most at home in the northeastern States, 
or in England. 

We have raised, with success, in Davis county, apples, pears, peaches, 
plums, cJierries. grapes, blackberries, raspberries, currants, gooseberries. 



15 

and strawberries. Successful production has gencrallv been in propor- 
tion to care and skill in mana;;enient. The plum, grape, gooseberry, 
raspberry, strawberry, &c., &c., are found wild here. There are 
nurseries in the county where every desirable tree, vine, and plant can 
be obtained on good terms, and in ample quantities. The osage 
orange is much used for iiedging, and is a complete success for that 
purpose. 

IKUrr GKOWIXG. 

Young as our State i.>, she some years ago at the National Fruit 
Congress at Philadelphia, carried away the highest awards, for the 
superior products of our orchards, and again at the Centennial Exposi- 
tion, our fruits were the wonder ;ind admiration of that vast assembly, 
and vicinity Although the tracks of the buffalo were hardly obliterated, 
Kansas furnished its full share to both those exhibitions. "And we are 
proud to say it compared favorably with the best. And our hearts a/e agaiu 
gladdened with the prospect of an abundant crop the present year. 
Our apple, pear, peach, plum, cherry, apricot, nectarine, and in fact 
all fruit trees of sufficient age are loaded to their utmost capacity. The 
summer of 1S74 will long be remembered as the only year that fruit 
trees were ever injured by drouth or grasshoppers. 

Trees grow faster and bear younger than in any State cast of us. The 
fact is now pretty well established, that a ten year old apple tree is worth 
more than a cow. And it is equally as well understood that we car 
raise and care for an orchard of 100 or a 1,000 trees to that age much 
easier than we can a herd of cattte of that same number. Small fruits 
of all sorts have been a complete success, with the exception of one fatal 
year. 

Our location being the nearest possible source from which Colorado 
and its vast mining population can be supplied, renders it one of the 
most favorable on the continent for extensive orchard culture. And the 
certainty of this inexhaustible and never-ending market, will insure us 
remunerative prices for all we can possibly grow. 

Forest and shade trees grow as fast here as anvwhere in America. 
Shrubbery of all sorts does finel}', and several sorts of evergreens are 
at home in our soil. Trees of all sorts are cheap, and we have r-irsery- 
men here who can supply }'ou with anything you want from a fo:-est to 
a flower garden. 

STOCK RAISING, CLIMATE, ETC. 

No countrv in the latitude of Davis county can surpass it for stock 
raising purposes. Her beautiful prairie swells and ridges are always 
clothed in summer, with coating of the most nutritious grasses, and not 
a Hy nor an insect is found to seriously disturb the quiet of animals 
Although a new country, the hated "greenhead,.' so prevalent and 
savage in Illinois is never seen. Even gnats and mosquitoes are con- 
fined to the lower valleys, so that cattle and horses ranging on the high 
prairies, all summer long have nothing to do except to grow and get 
fat. Long tails, which are so necessary to the comfort of animals \\\ 
regions along the Ohio, Wabash and JMississippi, are, on the rolling 
prairies of Davis county, more ornamental than useful. The valleys 
furnish a rank growth of coarser grasses than the uplands, and should 
be treated as a "late burn," and persistently pastured all summer to 
keep the grass tender. Shade and shelter from sun in summer and 



16 

storms in winter are found in the deejD woodod ravines, that abound in 
many parts of the county. Davis county if; marked by nature as the 
proper home of catUe, horses, and sheep. The valley farmer, with his 
broad, rich sections, should raise cattle. Such a iarm, on the margins 
of our rivers, is the paradise of shorthorns. The upland farmer, on the 
level prairies, may choose his animals, as all will do equally well in such 
a locality, while the owner of bluffs, quarries, and ravines can beat the 
v/orld on sheep, and may raise horses, mules, or the smaller breed of 
cattle. Swine do well in Kansas, but should generally be kept as 
incidental to other farming. The stupendous pork history of Ohio and: 
Illinois can not be profitably repeated in this county. 

The winters in this part of Kansas are usually not severe. The long, 
soaking, winter rains and deep snows of the States further east and 
north are seldom witnessed here. Compared with these, the winters 
here are dry and mild. To properly underf,tand the climate of this part 
of Kansas, it must be remembered that we get our moisture from two 
sources, the east and the west. The supply from eastern directions 
comes from the Atlantic, the gulf, the lakes, and the evaporation along 
the Mississippi river and its tributaries. This supply may be said to 
be constant, and rains depending upon it may be expected at any or all 
seasons, with little regularity and much uncertainty. As we recede 
v/estward, the supply of rain from eastern sources becomes continually 
smaller, until we should finally reach a rainless desert, were it not for 
other causes. The western supply of moisture comes from the vast 
snow fields of the Rocky mountains. This cause is active only during 
season that the snows are melting — say from ]\f ay to July, when the snows 
arc not deep, but continuing later in proportion to the supply of snow. In. 
accordance with these facts, Kansas has most rain in the growing season ; 
that is, the season of melting snows in the Rocky mountains. In the cold 
months, when the snows are not melting in the mountains, Kansas has 
rain and moisture, only from easterly directions, and the amount is 
much less than in regions further east. By this rule, also, the summers 
of Kansas must prove dry, after June, when the dry supply of mountain 
snows falls short, and is early melted. While, if there are deep snows in 
the mountains, west and southwest of us, there will be plenty of rain all 
summer. The western supply of moisture saves western Kansas from 
j:)roving a desert, and enables us to predict the character of our summers 
v/jthsome certainty, at the opening of spring. 

In thus explaining the general facts that Kansas has fruitful summers 
and dry mild winters, we think we have demonstrated its climatic 
adaptability of raising stock. Nor do wc, in thus showing the adapta- 
bility of this region to stock raising, detract one wliit from its advantages 
for grain raising and for manufacturing purposes. 

FAKMINC WITHOUT FENCTNG. 

^ Vv''e have a law in Kansas, which has been sustained by the Supreme 
Court, which enables county commissioners, upon a certain petition or 
vote of the people, to issue an order restraining from running 
at large, in their respective counties. It is called the herd 
law, and is designed to enable farmers to raise crops without 
the expense of fencing. It is the most remarkably successful reform of 
this decade. There is, imder this law, no trespass by stock, because 
stock :s better cared for by its owners. There is less litigation about 



trespass than in a lence country, because fences are always reliable. 
The idea of the herd law is the embodiment of justice and common 
sense. It protects the growing crops, which distuib no one, from the 
roaming-, malicious steer, which i^ a constant disturbance to everybody. 
In other words, it requires every man to take care of his own property, 
and to restrain it from disturbing- others. It improves the stock, 
decreases litig-ation, develops the c<Hmtrv and enable^ the larnier to farm 
at greatly reduced cost. 

■ Davis county has adopted this law, and settlers are thus ena!)led to 
i:)Cgin work without the expensive preliminar\- of fencing 

i';oi-c\Tio.\. 

The number of persons of school age in tlie county is about 1,500. 
The average length of school terms is five and one-half months. There 
are thirty-four organized school districts in the county, all furnished 
with good roomy school houses ; twenty-two stone, ten frame and two 
log. The total value of school property is $^0,000.00. 

A teachers' association lias been organized for some time. The 
standard of examination for teachers is high. The schools are liberallv 
supported by the people. Kansas is noted for the excellence of its school.-> 
and the superioritv of its educational svstem over that of any sister 
state in tiic west. 

WHAT HAS BKKV DON'!::. 

"The proof of the pudding is in the eating thereof." Does it pay to 
raise wheat in Davis county ? Let the following facts answer : 

In 1S75 Hon. John K. Wright raised on his farm, one mile from Junc- 
tion Cit-v-. 1.400 bushels of fall wheat, from So acres, which he sold for 
$1.00 per bushel. In 1S76 he raised 2,000 bushels of fall wheat on no 
acres, which he sold for So cents per bushel. In 1S77 Ue raised on 75 
acres 1,300 bushels," for which he received 97^cents per bushel. 

William E. Taylor, livino^ one and a half mile west of Junction City, 
last year threshed 3,350 bushels of wheat from 100 acres, and sold 
the most of it at $1,10 per bushel. 

The following table shows tlie experience in wheat raising of jNIr. 
McNamee, a farmer living seven miles west of Junction : 

1872 30 acres : average 18 bushels. 

1873 .-. 50 acres average 20 bushels. 

1S74 90 acres average J3 bushels. 

1875 100 acres average zo bushel>. 

187!) 200 acres average 18 bushels. 

Mr. McNamee has three hundred acres of fall wheat this year. 

W. S. Rulisou makes the following exhibit. His farm is ten miles 
west of Junction City. U.is work was all done by contract, not a dollar 
having been invested in machinery. It is an interesting and valuable 
statement, showing the c>:pense of raising a crop of wheat from virgi;i 
soil : 



IS 



nu, 

FJrci^rvin;;- ^_:^5 :ier-Gb at ^z.^o <1< 5S7 50 

llarrowitij^ twice at 20c per icre each 94 00 

So\vin;4 with seeder at 2gc each 4.7 co 

M^^ tnisliels seeds at So cents i88 00 

ilivvestin^-, stacking-, etc., at $2.10 per acre 470 00 

Threshinj2: -50 00 

Dclivcrin;; to market 175 00 

Interest on lan<l and payments niade for putting;- in crops, etc. 180 00 

Protu I '333 5*^* 

Total 7r^^S ^''^' 

CK. . , , 

Hv 3. :;oo bushels wheat at (;> cents 3-3-5 '^<^' 

The follawiny is llic experience of John S. Corvell : 

Lvon's (Jxkf.k, April 25, 1878. 
Mv iirst farming in Kansas was in 1873, I broke raw prairie and 
put in twelve acres in fall wheat. It yielded forty-one bushels per acre. 
In the year 1873 ^ broke more prairie, and stubbled in the twelve acres, 
making in all 38 acres that averaged 37 bushels per acre. In the fall of 1S74 
i put in on stubble and new ground 30 acres, that averaged 38 bushels 
per acre. In the fall of 187^ I put in on stubbie and new breaking 47 
acres that averaged 3:; bushels per acre. In the fall of 1876 I put in 
about 90 acres, and tfnc grasshoppers ate that all up, then in the latter 
part of October, I resowcd about 53 acres, and that averaged about i\ 
bushels per acre. Aly spring wheat (The Odessa) averaged 3^ bushels 
))er acre. Idun vS. C\!kvej,i.. 

I'ltlCKS IN DAVIS COL'XTV. 

Eastern people who contemplate removing to Kansas naturally wisii 
to know whether it will pay to bring along their household gootl-.. 
farming in>plements, stock, etc. For their- benelit prices at Junction 
City, ot a few of the leading articles they are compelled to have ar? 
given below : 

Cook .Stoves, tor either coal or wood, fron\ -$16 to 3^ ; Heating 
Stove-s, from .$16 to 35; Milk Pans, (6 cpiart) zoc(ff' z^c.', Milk I'ail.-i, 
5oc(<' 75c.; Dish Pans, 40c (« 75c.; Farm Wagons, 70 C^" $75.; Spring 
Wagons, $ 1 30 (a 135 ; Reapers aid Mowers (combined) $150 ; Culti- 
vators, -3-50 0': .$35 ; Sidky Plows, -$50 (a'' (mj ; Bedsteads, $3.50 to 34 ; 
Hureaus, 13 to .$50, Chairs, Kitcheii from 4 to $6 per half do/.en; IJreak- 
Ikst Tables, good walnut, $4 ; Harness, (Plow double) 8 (if: $10 ; Harness, 
(Work) 3o to .$40; Prints, 6c (ff' Sc; Muslins (l)rown) 6c (rf izJ.c: 
Muslins, (bleached) Sc (a' I3.^c.; (Jinghams, loc ('f 1 34c.; Cheviots, loc ('?) 
i8c.: Cottonades, 15c (n 30c.; Cotton, Flannels, loc (('"' 30c.; Crash, icx^if' 
30C.; Denims, 15c (a 3oc.; Jeans, 30C («' 75c.; Men's Kij) Shoes," $1.3; 
to 3.50 : Men's Kip FJoots, $3.50 to 4.00 ; Women's Heavy Shoe.-. 
$i.oo to 3.50: Women's Fine Shoes, $1.35 to $5.00 ; Cow.s, ,|3s to 30; 
Work (,)xen. |6o to 100 per yoke ; Dratt Horses, $75 to roo ; Muics: 
$75 to 135. 

wit.xr rr costs to <;kt njcu)'.. 
Having given the cost here of a few of the leading necessary articles 
foF housekeeping and farming, the ncKt thing in. order will be tell wh;*r 
it costs to get here. The following tables will give thi.s informati(^n : 



-n 


55 


-4 


55 


" 7 


<-^^ 


J 7 


o^ 


^ T 


o^ 


-7 


'->^ 


-7 


^\5 


-'/ 


oo 



^)'i:riAJ. KAii;s loi? c oi.dMsis ou k:m u;ka.\j>~ \ ia missoiim. kaxsas 

.\\l> ICXAS iJAIJAVA^. 

JliiunilKi! to Junction City...':^!! o;;. liannilml to ). Cilv nwd vc'i -tio o<) 

(.^iiincy to junction City ii -^o. C^uincy to j. Citv and re't... . _'i oo 

St. Louis to junction City. . i .; (xj, St. I^ouis to J. City and rc't. Ji oo 

Chicago to junction City.... iS 40, Chicag-o to j". Citv'and re"t... ]G 7- 

HATKS OK FAKK TO )t .VCTIO.N fllV, \- 1 A KANSAS I'ACIMC IfAlLW.W. 

From First Class. Steroid Class. J^.mi^-rant. 

New York .$39 15 .$-- 15 .-j;_,r) o; 

l-'hiladelphia 37 65 32 15 

Baltimore 35 90 32 15 

f^cston 40 15 35 30 

Ijutialo 33 15 31 30 

Cleveland 30 15 ^7 40 

Pittsbuiji; 3-2 15 .7<J ^^^^^ -7 

Cincinnati -'4 9CJ 22 90 

Chicago iz 30 JO So 

St. Louis. 14 90 

Emigiant Tickets and I'^irst Cla^s E.\cu!sion Tickets at retluccd iale>. 
; an be had at the principal cities east of the Mi'.-sissippi. 
iAini-i- K.-VTHs OK i!!Eu;iri- ro ji:.\cTjo.N ^:\\\ via kaxs\s i-acii-k- 

);Air.\v.\^-. 

From \st Class. i,l Class. 3,/ Class. 4/// Class. 

New ^'ork -'i^- ^5 ""i'^ 7.3 •*?• 4^^ -i^f 10 

Philadelphia - 09 1 (17 i 3S 1 oS 

]>altiinore 2 07 ' ^'5 ' .S7 ' '-"7 

Chicago I 20 I 05 So 65 

St. L<juis 90 7:; 70 (X) 

(jlreat leductions tVoiii the above schedule are now to be ha<l. espcci- 
alh^ from Cliicago. 

v\ m \uv sMoiJijj i.ocAiM-; i.\ da vis county, 
1. IJecause we have some of the tinest farming lands in Ivan.'ras .\-<k\ 
j;vailable U) settlers. The Kansas Facitic railroad company have 40,04-iu,'. 
and the Missouri, Kansas A: Texas railroad company about 5,000 iej-es • 
of land in the county for sale at prices ranging from .$2 to .1f2,.cjj.per 
acre. Tiie land is g<;od rolling prairie, well watered, and wiiihun. easy 
reach of fuel, lumber and the liest market in Kansas, luipro-ved'. farms 
can be obtained at prices averaging about .$ 10 per acre.. Thuv caji 
be purchased anywhere in the settled portion of the Slate for less than 
the cost of improvements. Land is always changino- hands in new 
countries. A large proportion of the pioneers are restless and rovin-'- 
■;ind cannot stand civilization. When the graded s<:bxKJs.. rJmrches 
with organs, and the railroads a^jpear, this class of pc-^'pit' KJ/iTrider; . 
'lepart aiul seek new unexplored rields iiiore in harmony witil/u tji.tckr 
tastes. Like the Indian, the buffalo and the stage coach, they disapp-f^j .v/ 
the advance of civilization. They serve a good purpose. Thcv" subJu • 
the wilderness and prepare the way for their brethren ol" cultujc m^ 
capital. People of this class have lands to sell and also man\- others 
v.re compelkd with rehjcfance to di.^spose of their larm^, whose anib' 



20 

tion has overleaped their judgment and led them to borrow more means 
for making improvements than they have been able to liquidate. 

2. Because this county has the best marketing facilities of any county 
in Kansas, junction City, the county seat is, at the junction of two 
national railroads. It is in direct rail communication with the 
Atlantic and Pacific oceans and with the Gulf of Mexico. Kansas City, 
the o-reatest cattle and grain market in the west, is only 138 miles from 
i!S by rail. Texas furnishes us a superior market for our grain. During 
the past winter the Junction City quotation for wheat has been ten cents 
a bushel higher on all grades than at any other point on 
the Kansas Pacilic railway. The following table exhibits a comparison 
between the grain quotation of Junction City and Abilene on the 19th of 
April, 1878. ' Abilene is twenty-live miles west of Junction City on the 
Kansas Pacific railway and is the shijoping point of one of the bci:t 
wheat growing sections of theStatc : 

IL'NCTON Cirr. ABILE.NK. 

Winter Wheat, No. 3, 95c (a .l^i.oo. Winter Wheat, No. 3, Soc. 

Winter Wheat, No. 4, Soc. Winter Wheat, No. 4, 70c. 

Rejected 60c (<-t 70c. Rejected 55c (a 60. 

Spring Wheat 75c. Spring Wheat 65c («' 70c. 

Corn ^<'C. Corn i8c. 

Oats i8c. Oats 15c. 

Rye 30c. Rye 25c. 

3. l^ecause we possess all the educational and religious advantages 
that are ailbrded by any of the old settled communties in the eastern States. 
There are thirty-four district school houses in the county, and the value of 
.•.chool property is .$50,000. The Presbyterians, Congregationalists, 
Baptists, Methodists, Episcopalians, Catholics, and Universalists all have 
urganizationsand church edifices, and the value of the church property 
is not less than $50,000. It requires time, money, energy, liberality and 
sacrifices to build up churches, schools and all the requirements of an 
elevated, refined and progressive people. 

4. Because it is has been proven, by an experience of twenty-two 
years, that we have productive soil, and climate unexcelled for health- 
fulness and agreeableness. Malarial diseases, commonly so prevalent 
in all new countres, are hardly known here. 

5. Because you will be warmly greeted and made to feel that you are 
Avanted. 

6. Because if you are enterprising antl imlustriiMis you will soon 
l:)ecome independent. 

7. Because you will find organizations here, which will clieerfully 
furnish you gratuitious information about everything you will want 
to know about the country and assist you in locating. We have two 
immigration societies — the" Davis County Bureau of Immigration, (the 
names of the oflicers of which will be found on the second page of this 
pamphlet), and the Davis County German Immigration Society. The 
oilicers of the latter are as follows : President—].], l^lattner. Junction 
City ; Secretary — A. Nachtmann, Junction City ; Treasurer — A. Vogler, 
Junction City. There is no direct money in these organizations. The 
.object of them is to induce immigration hither, thus promoting tiie 
interests »)f all by securing the settlement, improvement and 



21 

cicvclopment of the resources of the county. In tliis lespcct the 
interests of the settler and the immigrant are mutual. The interests of 
the immigrant will be advanced b^' obtaining a home here, and the 
settler will be benefitted by the addition of population and the increase 
of taxable property. 

S. iJecause we can otVer \ ou l)ettcr lands, fur both farming ;tnd 
stock-growing purposes, and at less prices, than can be 
obtained hundreds of miles west of here, on the '• plains," 
where farming is yet an experiment. On this point Henry 
Ward ]>eecher, in a recent letter to the Chri.stian Union 
says: '• The enormous immigration which is this year Hooding the State 
is going toward the west. The soil is not so fertile, the rainfall less and the 
droughts more prevalent than in Central and Eastern Kansas. These 
causes will make the first few years of iniinigrant life more toilsome 
^.nd less remunerative than in other portions of the State. IJetter lands, 
iiX. decidedly cheaper prices, can be had in the eastern and northern 
counties, where the roads, bridges, towns, churches and schools me 
established and within reach of all. But the great railroads runnin'->- 
v.'estward direct the immigration by efficient agencies to their own lands. 
Men pay six, seven and eight dollars an acre for farms three hundred 
miles from Kansas City, when better lands can be bought at from three 
to five dollars an acre in the populous eastern and northern counlifs." 



>i^±^ 



On the folU)wingpage is a map showing the immediate vicinity of 
Junction City and also an engraving of the \vater power near the city. 
A King iron bridge spans the Republican river directly north of the 
city, another like bridge crosses the vSmoky Hill at the point marked 
'• Mill and Water Power,'' and still another iron bridge for public travel 
crosses the Smoky Hill south of the city, near the railroad c?i-os.sina- of 
the jSIissouri, Kansas A: Texas railwa\-. The two remaiinng pages of 
this pamphlet contain a brief and incomplete description of the city and 
its resources. Nearly every branch of business is represented in Junction 
City, and it has several fine church edifices — one, the Presln terian, 
costing $1^,000 — several good business houses and fine dwellin<j-s. ' The 
people are noted for their hospitality, refinement and public spirit, its 
public schools rank among the best in the State. It has two newspapers 
— the 'ytmction City Union and Jtmction City Trilncne, which are 
li])erally supported. What is particularly needed here is a hotel costiu"- 
I70t less than $20,000. It is, without exception, the best hotel point iii 
Kansas. A foundry and machine shop and beef and pork packing houses 
are also wanted. Junction City may yet become the capital (.if the State. 
'I'he first territorial capital was located within six miles t)f here at Pawnee, 
seen on the map, northeast of Fort Riley, where the first territorial Le<'-is- 
lature convened, and doubtless the capital would have permanently, 
rennained there had not the to\yn of Pawnee been located on the Fort 
Riley military reservation. The general government ordered the removal 
ofth.e town, which caused the location of the capital farther east. 



23 



JUNCTION CITY. 



LOCATIOM. 

junction City is located at the confluence ot' tiie Smoky Hiil .-md 
Repwbliciui rivers, which form the Kaasa.^. It i^> 139 tuiles west ot the 
Missouri river, 261 miles from the western bounclarv of tiu' State, acjd 
67 miles from the norfhern boundary. 

The town is in the center of a larg^e net-worlc of sinail valievs. Th::rse 
constitute nia<;niHcent agricultural lands, and the streamo afford pure 
runnint;" water the year round. It is situated on a beautiful piece of 
table land surrounded on all sides by gentle ri.sing bluff's. Its town site 
i.s the handsomest in the State. Its location must make it the comai-?rc:al 
center of central and Avestern Kansas. 

Junction City is the county seat of Davis county. It ha.-, a populatior. 
of 2,i>0(). It affords one of the best markets ii\ the State. Three King 
iron bridges cross the streams near town. Cl^ur C'^ld water can be 
had anywhere by digging froni thirty to tift7 feet. It is a live, active, 
v.'ide-avvake, enterprising town. Its future is very proniising. 

ACCRS.SIRIMTY. 

Xo point in Kansas is so easy of access as Junction City. Located 
right at the conffuence of four great valleys, whose boti;o;ii land » 
liirnish each the most beautiful natural road-beds in the world, 
with numberless rich aaid e.ttensivc valleys ali about it, all combine to 
indicate that nature had ii\tended a common center for a va.-.t regioit. 
From east to west we have the great through line of the continent — the 
Kansas and Smoky Hill valleys — 'traversed by the Kansas Pacific Rail- 
way. To the northwest is the immense valley of the Republican, with 
its countless tributaries, along which is constructed for fifty miles the 
Junction City & Ft. Kearney railroad, a branch of the Kansas Facitic. 
And to the south, but ten miles distant, is the head of the e.:iualh' 
extensive and fertile valley of the Neosho, .with which wtj have several 
valley connections and down which points tiie great Mis.souri, Kan.sas 
i*v: Te.vas Railway, connecting us with the Gulf at (r.alveston. 

BTlLDlNCi STONK. 

The blulls surrounding Junction City abound in a I'na'jn.esian liujc- 
.Ntonc. This stone extends probably forty miles along the valleys of ti'.e 
lyaiisas and Smoky I [ill rivers, but that varl«?ty of it which if, principally 
valuable exists t)nly in the inimediatc neighborhood of Junctioii City. 
The beavity and litness of this stone lor substantial and ornamental 
buildings have attracted great attention. The State Capitol, at Topeka, 
i.s built of rock (}iiarrte<l at Junction City., a.s also a large number of 
[Hiblic and private buildings in Kaneins City, Leavenworth and Omaha. 



24 



WATKH FOWKK XKAK fUKCriOV CITY. 

Wc do not liesitate to say that [unction City is in tlie center of more 
water power than anv other town on the continent. 

IMl'llO\'ED WATl. !l I'OWERii. 

Fogartv's W'ater-l'ower Mill is within three-quarters ol'a mile from 
junction City. The dam is in a bend of the Smoicy Hill. The river at 
this point hugs . close to the foot of g-reat, rug-ged, romantic hluHs, on 
the south side. The dani has been built, and it has stood several severe 
tests of its strcng-th. 

The water power is estimated at two hundiCd and fifty horse, which 
drives a turbine wheel of fifty -six inches diameter, equal to sixty horse 
power. 'I'he capacitv of the mill with five run of stones, will be three 
Jnindred and fifty barrels of flour every twehty-foijr hours. The dam is 
nine feet high, which ma,kes fifteen feet of water. under the bridge. 

The hillside is a magniiicent location for a number of manufactories. 
There is an abundance of power. With the unequaled advantages 
which OUT system of railroads, reaching north, south, cast and west 
afibrds, mav we. not hope to see ere long the banks of the Smoky lined 
with factories, wherein .wool from New Mexico, cotton from Texas, 
and stravv^, flax and hemp from our own prairies can he profita^bly 
nianufacturcd and exported? Wc venture to predict that in ten years 
Kansas will l)e one of the leading States of the Union, and Junction 
City its principal metropolis. 

SAr/r AND SAI.T WORK.S. 

A salt well, two inches in diameter and about 700 feet deep, has been 
•sui.k near the union depot. It has a capacity of 3<,)0 gallons of water 
per hour, fiftv per cent, of which is ^aliniferous. Two sets of "rooms," 
of three ''rooms'' to the set, have been completed and are in connection 
with this well, and salt is manufactured b}- solar evaporation. Another 
well seven inches in diameter is being- sunk near by. The supply of 
salt water is presumed to be inexhaustilile. Following the full develop- 
ment now in progress of our salt resources must necessarily come 
packing houses. 

.SCI100L.S. . 

[unction City has three public school buildings, valued at $20,000, 
and the number of scholars enrolled is between i:;oo and 600. Its 
public schools arc the pride and boast of the city. 

FORT RILEY. 

This is one of the most important militar\- posts belonging to th.e 
go\ernment. It is a twelve-company post, having splendid quarters 
and stables. The buildings are all built of fine white magesiun limestone. 
The post stands on a, beautiful and commanding eminence. '-It is 
located in Davis county; three miles northeast of [unction City. Its 
location is. at the head of the Kansas river, probably half a mile from 
whei-c the Smoky Hill and Republican meet._ The spot- was selected 
aii'd the Post Iniilt by Major Ogdeu, quartermaster. U. S. A., in the year 
1853. A handsome monument stands uport the highest emiehce at tlie 
ti)rt, as a testimonial of .Major Ogden . . 

Fort Riley must for .some time yet be an important supply post. It 
ofiers to the farmers of DavLs and adjoining counties a most profitable 
market. .■ . . • 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 



016 088 287^6 J 



